Google News Borna Coric first tennis star to land in Australia, Denis Shapovalov follows
by DZEVAD MESIC | VIEW 5653
Former world No. 12 Borna Coric and Canadian tennis star Denis Shapovalov are the first players to arrive to Australia, per Herald Sun. Coric is believed to be the first player to land in Australia, while world No. 14 Shapovalov touched down on Thursday.
Simona Halep, a former world No. 1, and world No. 7 Matteo Berrettini are set to arrive to Australia on Monday -- before Tuesday's first charter flights. All players have to return negative tests 72 hours before flying to Australia.
Also, all players have to undergo testing upon landing in Australia. While waiting for the test results, players have to remain in isolation.
Coric set for a comeback
Coric last played in March and underwent a should surgery in May.
Australian Open tournament director said all players arriving to Melbourne would stay at Crown accomodation. “This will be one of, if not the safest place to be in the world in January, because of that rigorous process everyone has been through to get here on the precinct,” Tiley said.
“All the players are staying in the same accommodation, so we have a minimised risk environment at the Crown and they’ll be staying there as a group. “There will be testing on site, we’ll be managing their movements and they get straight into the cars.
“So in 2021, we were about protecting the community from the players, who were coming from environments that were ravaged with the virus and we didn’t have it. “In 2022, it’s about keeping the players and our patrons on site from not getting Omicron or any variant of the virus”.
Tiley admitted co-ordinating this year's events hasn't been easy. “We brought in only 1000 people in 2021 and we’re bringing in 3300 players and their staff (this time around),” Tiley said.
“We have qualifying (which was held overseas this year), juniors and wheelchair, so this has been more difficult.
“But this is a Melbourne, a Victorian, an Australian effort. We want to bring Australia back in a big way and … hopefully in January we can feel really proud, as Australians, on all being vaccinated”.
